Community Shootaround: Early Check-In On MVP Race
With the lone exception of the Spurs, all of the NBA’s teams have played between 18 and 20 games so far this season (San Antonio is at 17), meaning we’re just about at the one-quarter mark of the season. With that in mind, we’re taking stock today of the top performances of 2021/22 to date.
The NBA’s top scorer so far is the same player who finished atop the leaderboard last season: Stephen Curry. Curry’s 28.2 PPG is nearly four full points below his 2020/21 average, but it looks like he’ll have a much stronger case for Most Valuable Player consideration this time around based on his team’s performance.
The Warriors, who finished just a few games above .500 and didn’t make the playoffs last season, have a league-best 16-2 record this season — and they’re still waiting to add Klay Thompson and James Wiseman to their rotation. Curry has led the charge, knocking down 41.8% of an eye-popping 12.9 three-point attempts per game, while chipping in 6.8 APG and 5.8 RPG. Golden State plays like an average team when Curry sits (-0.3 net rating) and an all-time juggernaut when he’s on the court (+20.4).
As the top scorer on the NBA’s best team, Curry would almost certainly win the MVP award if the season ended today, but if he or the Warriors slow down, there are plenty of other contenders to consider, starting with last year’s winner.
Nuggets center Nikola Jokic has matched last season’s scoring average (26.4 PPG) while establishing new career-highs in RPG (13.6), FG% (.593), and 3PT% (.410) in the early going. He also leads Denver in APG (6.4), and the gap between the team’s net rating when he’s on the court (+12.6) and off it (-14.6) is even bigger than Curry’s.
Unfortunately, that net rating with Jokic off the court may be the thing that ultimately sinks his chances. The injury-plagued Nuggets have been brutal whenever the reigning MVP sits and it’s led to a middle-of-the-pack 10-10 record so far. Like Curry a year ago, Jokic isn’t going to win another MVP award if his team finishes in play-in range.
How about another star on a No. 1 seed then? The 14-5 Nets, who have a two-game cushion in the Eastern Conference, have been led by a version of Kevin Durant playing at the height of his powers. He’s right behind Curry for the scoring lead (28.1 PPG) and has posted a career-best .556 FG% to go along with 7.6 RPG and 5.3 APG. Brooklyn has a +6.0 net rating when he plays, compared to +0.3 when he sits.
Durant’s case will be hurt a little by the fact that he has another former MVP – James Harden – helping him out, but if the Nets finish atop the East without Kyrie Irving playing at all, that’ll be a point in Durant’s favor.
Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo, Clippers forward Paul George, Heat swingman Jimmy Butler, Mavericks guard Luka Doncic, Suns guards Chris Paul and Devin Booker, and Bulls wings Zach LaVine and DeMar DeRozan are some of the other stars who would be in the conversation if the season ended today. Sixers center Joel Embiid and Lakers forwards LeBron James and Anthony Davis are among the others who could force their way into the conversation if they stay healthy and their teams move up the standings.
We want to know what you think. Is Curry the MVP so far? Who is the biggest threat to take the award from him if everyone stays healthy? Are there any dark-horse candidates you like? What would your five-man ballot look like at this point?
Head to the comment section below to share your thoughts!
Raptors Notes: Birch, Anunoby, Watanabe, Boucher, Banton
Raptors center Khem Birch has already been ruled out for Friday’s game in Indiana, tweets Josh Lewenberg of TSN.ca. It’ll be the fifth game in a row that Birch has missed, but head coach Nick Nurse doesn’t view the swelling in the big man’s right knee as a serious issue.
“There seems to be nothing really wrong with it other than it’s not handling some wear and tear, I guess, and it’s going up and down a little bit in the last couple weeks,” Nurse said before Wednesday’s game, per Eric Koreen of The Athletic.
The only other player on Toronto’s injury report for Friday is OG Anunoby, who is once again listed as questionable due to his left hip pointer. Anunoby was also listed as questionable for Wednesday’s contest but was ultimately held out of his fourth straight game.
Let’s round up a few more Raptors-related items…
- Yuta Watanabe made his season debut on Wednesday after missing more than a month due to a calf injury. While his offensive numbers were modest (three points on 0-of-3 shooting), Watanabe made a strong impression on Nurse and the Raptors with his performance, which included two steals and two blocks in 14 minutes. “I thought (Watanabe’s play) was awesome,” Nurse said after the game, per Koreen. “I just think he ran down some loose balls — and we were really having some trouble doing that — he kept a few of them alive on the offensive end, got a great block. Just some really good, hard play.”
- If Watanabe hangs onto a regular rotation role, it’ll put Chris Boucher in danger of losing minutes, Koreen observes. Boucher averaged 24.2 minutes per game last season, but has played just 13.9 MPG this season and logged only seven minutes on Wednesday. Boucher is at his best when he’s blocking shots on defense and hitting threes on offense, but his numbers in both categories have dropped off this season, making it hard to justify playing him much, Koreen writes.
- The Raptors are getting all they expected and more from second-round pick Dalano Banton, says Doug Smith of The Toronto Star. The rookie is one of just three players on the roster who has appeared in all 19 games so far, and he’s earning praise from team leaders like Fred VanVleet. “The kid is really talented,” VanVleet said of Banton. “He doesn’t make a ton of mistakes and he plays really hard. He’s fearless and I like him.”
Southeast Notes: C. Martin, Hachimura, Suggs, Hawks
Heat forward Caleb Martin has emerged as a regular rotation player this month, but his two-way contract could complicate his role as the season progresses, writes Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel.
Two-way players can only be active for 50 of 82 games — Martin has been active for 17 of Miami’s first 19 contests, so if the club continues to use him regularly, he could reach his limit prior to the All-Star break. The easiest way to avoid that scenario would be to promote Martin to the 15-man roster, but the Heat aren’t filling their lone opening yet due to luxury tax concerns. As Winderman notes, Martin said this week that it’d be great to earn a standard contract, but that he’s not concerned about it yet.
“I haven’t really thought that far ahead,” Martin said. “I’ll leave that up to them. For them, that’s really on them to decide when they need me or when not. … Obviously that standard contract is what anybody who comes in on this situation works toward.”
Here’s more from around the Southeast:
- Wizards forward Rui Hachimura, whose debut this season has been delayed due to a personal absence, still isn’t quite ready to return to action. According to Ava Wallace of The Washington Post (Twitter link), Hachimura didn’t accompany the team on its current four-game road trip, which runs through Monday.
- Magic guard Jalen Suggs has struggled a little early in his rookie season, but after putting up 17 points and six assists in a loss to Charlotte on Wednesday, the first-year guard said he’s feeling more “comfortable and confident,” as Jason Beede of The Orlando Sentinel details. “These past four or five games I’ve felt I’ve kind of turned the corner [from] trying to get adjusted, trying to get my feet wet, because it’s just a completely different situation to now,” Suggs said.
- Chris Kirschner and John Hollinger of The Athletic teamed up to discuss whether the Hawks make sense as a potential Ben Simmons suitor and how much urgency the team should feel to make a major consolidation trade. Kirschner doesn’t believe Atlanta needs to make a big in-season move, but thinks the team should seriously consider it during the 2022 offseason, a year before De’Andre Hunter and Cam Reddish are eligible for restricted free agency.
Northwest Notes: Edwards, A-Rod, Daigneault, Covington
Anthony Edwards led the Timberwolves to a victory over Jimmy Butler and the Heat on Wednesday, putting up 33 points, 14 rebounds, and six assists in a game-high 43 minutes. Edwards was a plus-19 in the 12-point win and his performance earned rave reviews from a pair of his teammates with All-Star appearances on their résumés, as Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic writes.
“I think we’re watching him grow in front of us, just all around,” said D’Angelo Russell, adding that Edwards “got us over the hump” in the game vs. Miami.
“You need superstars to win in this league now,” Karl-Anthony Towns said of the second-year wing. “We need someone like him. We always talk about the big three. Well, he’s solidified himself. It’s amazing to see him getting better and better every game and figuring it out more and more.”
Edwards is building off his strong second half as a rookie and has boosted his numbers across the board so far this season, further solidifying his place as a long-term cornerstone in Minnesota. In 18 games (35.9 MPG), he has put up 22.8 PPG, 6.7 RPG, and 3.4 APG on .434/.360/.746 shooting.
Here’s more from around the Northwest:
- How did Alex Rodriguez go from MLB All-Star to co-owner of the Timberwolves? In an in-depth story for The Athletic, Krawczynski explores A-Rod’s entry into the business world and how he teamed up with Marc Lore, his partner in the purchase of the Wolves.
- Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault returned to the sidelines for Wednesday’s contest vs. Utah after missing the team’s three-game road trip to be there for the birth of his first child (Twitter link via Joe Mussatto of The Oklahoman). Oklahoma City was 0-3 in Daigneault’s absence.
- Trail Blazers forward Robert Covington was ejected from Wednesday’s game in Sacramento for throwing his face guard and hitting an official’s foot with it. As Aaron Fentress of The Oregonian relays, head coach Chauncey Billups and star guard Damian Lillard said after the game that it was an accident. “Roco always takes his mask off and tosses it to the side,” Lillard said. “This time he just tossed it and it literally bounced into the referee.” It remains to be seen whether Covington will be fined by the NBA for the incident.
Marc Gasol To Play For Girona
As expected, veteran center Marc Gasol has announced that he’ll resume his playing career with Girona, a team based in Catalonia, Spain (video link). Gasol is also the owner and president of the franchise, which plays in the LEB Oro, Spain’s second league.
A three-time All-Star and the NBA’s 2013 Defensive Player of the Year, Gasol spent the 2020/21 season with the Lakers, but his relationship with the team soured after L.A. signed Andre Drummond as its new starting center in the second half. The Lakers didn’t re-sign Drummond during the offseason, but added centers Dwight Howard and DeAndre Jordan, paving the way for Gasol’s exit. He was traded to the Grizzlies in a salary-dump deal and Memphis subsequently waived him.
Gasol’s desire to return home to Spain was a factor in his split with the Lakers. Reports all the way back in mid-September indicated that he would likely end up joining Girona, but it took him a little while to finalize that decision. FC Barcelona was among the other teams in Europe that attempted to recruit Gasol as he weighed his options.
Gasol, who will turn 37 in January, would likely have NBA suitors if he decided to return stateside. Although he’s not the perennial All-NBA candidate he once was, the veteran big man remains a savvy defender and a strong passer who can stretch the floor on offense.
However, it’s unclear whether or not Gasol intends to attempt an NBA comeback either in 2022 or further down the road. He said today that he’ll weigh his future after playing out the season with Girona.
Gironia is off to a 2-7 start in LEB Oro play so far this season, so Gasol will be looking to reverse the team’s fortunes and push for a playoff spot.
Nuggets’ PJ Dozier Out For Season With Torn ACL
5:51pm: Dozier suffered a torn ACL and will miss the remainder of the season, tweets ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
6:48am: Nuggets wing PJ Dozier had to be carried off the court on Tuesday after landing awkwardly late in the first quarter of Denver’s loss to Portland. The team hasn’t yet provided an official update on what was diagnosed as a left knee injury, but there’s concern that Dozier’s season is in jeopardy, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (via Twitter).
Sources tell Wojnarowski that, after conducting initial imaging on Tuesday night, the Nuggets fear Dozier tore his left ACL. The injury will be evaluated further on Wednesday to determine the severity.
If today’s testing confirms that Dozier tore his ACL, it would be a brutal blow for both him and the team, which had relied on the 25-year-old as one of its go-to players off the bench. In 18 games so far this season, Dozier has averaged 5.4 PPG and 3.5 RPG in 18.9 minutes per contest.
The banged-up Nuggets are already dealing with a series of injuries to star players. Jamal Murray is recovering from an ACL tear of his own and will be out until the spring; Michael Porter Jr. is out indefinitely due to a nerve issue in his back; and Nikola Jokic has missed the team’s last three games due to a right wrist sprain.
As ESPN’s Bobby Marks observes (via Twitter), Dozier’s $1.91MM salary for 2021/22 isn’t yet fully guaranteed, but it would become guaranteed if he’s ruled out for the season. Denver could also apply for a disabled player exception in that scenario, though such an exception – which would be worth half of Dozier’s salary – would have little practical value.
A team can apply for a hardship exception, opening up a temporary 16th roster spot, if it has at least four players who have missed at least three games due to injury or illness and are expected to be sidelined for at least two more weeks. However, while Murray, Porter, and Dozier appear likely to be out for the long term, Jokic should be back as soon as Friday and it’s unclear if Bones Hyland (right ankle sprain) is at risk of missing multiple weeks.
Community Shootaround: Coaches On The Hot Seat
Luke Walton became the first head coach to be let go during the 2021/22 NBA season earlier this week, but he may not be the last.
Although coaching changes happen most frequently in the spring once a team’s season has ended, some clubs decide not to wait that long, preferring to get a head-start on the transition midway through the year. Given the success Nate McMillan had in turning the Hawks’ season around when he took over for Lloyd Pierce in March, it’s possible we’ll see a couple more teams besides the Kings try to replicate that reversal of fortune with an in-season change.
With that in mind, we want to know which head coaches you believe will be most at risk during the 2021/22 season.
A report earlier today from Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report suggested that Stephen Silas of the Rockets may be the next coach to find himself on the hot seat. Houston has been the NBA’s worst team so far this season, with a 1-16 record, a 15-game losing streak, and a last-place ranking in several important offensive categories.
Still, the Rockets didn’t enter the season with postseason aspirations, and Silas has another year left on his contract after this season. Would a team on track to finish at the bottom of the NBA standings really be in a rush to make a midseason change and commit to paying two coaches for the next year-and-a-half, with a playoff berth seemingly multiple years away?
Sports betting site BetOnline.ag has Silas listed third in its odds for the next NBA head coach to be fired. Pistons head coach Dwane Casey, whose team is off to a 4-13 start, is atop that list. Like Silas, Casey wasn’t expected to lead his club to the playoffs this season, but there was an expectation that the Pistons would perhaps be a little more competitive than they have been.
On the other hand, with the exception of a blowout home loss to the Kings, the Pistons have been beaten by good teams so far, and all indications are that the organization thinks highly of Casey. In fact, he signed a contract extension just six months ago, locking him up through 2023/24. If things really go south in Detroit this season, maybe he finds himself on the hot seat, but I’m skeptical we’re at that point yet.
BetOnline.ag lists Frank Vogel of the Lakers between Casey and Silas as the second-most likely candidate to be the next coach fired.
The Lakers entered the season with championship aspirations but have underachieved so far, posting a 9-10 record. LeBron James‘ absences due to injuries and a one-game suspension have contributed to Los Angeles’ struggles (the team is 4-7 without him), but even with James in the lineup, the club has looked disjointed and inconsistent.
Like Casey, Vogel received a contract extension earlier this year. However, that extension didn’t really represent a massive vote of confidence. Entering the final season of the three-year contract he signed in 2019, Vogel had just one year tacked onto his deal, despite winning a title in 2020. Since his one-year extension only covers 2022/23, it wouldn’t necessarily preclude the Lakers from making a change if their struggles continue.
What do you think? Are Silas, Casey, or Vogel in any real trouble yet? Is there another head coach whose job security looks more tenuous to you? Do you think we’ll get any more in-season coaching changes in 2021/22?
Head to the comment section below to weigh in with your thoughts!
Injury Notes: Okongwu, Embiid, Raptors, Harris, B. Brown
Hawks big man Onyeka Okongwu played some 3-on-3 this week and “came out OK,” head coach Nate McMillan said on Tuesday (Twitter link via Sarah K. Spencer of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution). McMillan added that the Hawks will continue to be cautious with Okongwu and that there’s no set timeline for his return from shoulder surgery. Atlanta initially estimated a recovery period of about six months when Okongwu went under the knife in July.
Here are a few more injury updates from around the NBA:
- After ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski said on Tuesday that the Sixers are hopeful Joel Embiid will be able to return as soon as Saturday, Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link) reiterated today that there’s growing optimism about Embiid’s ability to play on Saturday. The star center hasn’t suited up since November 6 due to a case of COVID-19.
- For the first time this season, the Raptors may have a fully healthy roster later this week, per Doug Smith of The Toronto Star. As Smith writes, Yuta Watanabe (calf) and OG Anunoby (hip) are both close to returning, while Khem Birch (knee) and Precious Achiuwa (shoulder) are day-to-day. All four players are currently listed as questionable for Wednesday’s game vs. Memphis.
- Nets head coach Steve Nash doesn’t expect Joe Harris (ankle) to be back for Saturday’s game vs. Phoenix, but is optimistic Bruce Brown (hamstring) will be available by that point, tweets Brian Lewis of The New York Post. Nash said Brown wanted to play tonight, but the team is opting to give him a little more recovery time.
Nikola Vucevic Set To Return For Bulls
After being sidelined for the Bulls‘ last seven games, center Nikola Vucevic will return to action on Wednesday night in Houston, tweets Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times.
Vucevic tested positive for COVID-19 two weeks ago and was in the NBA’s health and safety protocols up until this week. Although he has been cleared to play, he’ll be on a minutes limit tonight, per Cowley.
Vucevic got off to a slow start this season, averaging just 13.6 PPG on 39.5% shooting in 11 games (34.2 MPG). However, he has contributed 10.9 RPG and a career-best 4.3 APG, and played a key role in Chicago’s hot start.
The Bulls are 8-3 with Vucevic in the lineup and have gone 4-3 without him. The big man has also been part of many of Chicago’s best defensive lineups — the club’s defensive rating is 101.1 when he plays, compared to 106.2 when he sits.
Meanwhile, Bulls guard Alex Caruso had initially been considered a game-time decision for Wednesday due to a left wrist contusion, according to Cowley (Twitter link). However, he has been listed as available on the team’s latest injury report.
And-Ones: Okobo, I. Thomas, Team USA, Trade Deadline
Former Suns point guard Elie Okobo, who was the No. 31 overall pick in the 2018 draft, has been out of the NBA since the 2019/20 season and is playing in France this year. However, the 24-year-old tells Dionysis Aravantinos of HoopsHype that he envisions himself returning stateside at some point — he’s just not sure when.
“I didn’t really set goals about a return timetable, a deadline, or whatever,” Okobo said.” I want to improve, be ready, and I want to make sure I’m not going back to the NBA as a rookie, I want to set a certain standard, I want to come back with a status of a great EuroLeague player. I obviously want to have a long NBA career, but right now I’m focusing on the team and myself.”
Here are more odds and ends from around the basketball world:
- Veteran guard Isaiah Thomas, who continues to seek an NBA comeback, is changing representation, according to Alex Kennedy of BasketballNews.com (Twitter link). Thomas is in the process of finding a new agent after previously being represented by Bernie Lee.
- USA Basketball has officially added big man Will Davis II to its roster for the upcoming qualifying games for the 2023 World Cup. Since initially announcing the 12-man squad for the event, Team USA has replaced Jordan Bell, Frank Mason, Orlando Johnson, and DaQuan Jeffries with Justin Anderson, Haywood Highsmith, Davis, and Thomas.
- Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report tries his luck at predicting which teams could be most active in trade talks leading up to the February deadline. Lottery teams like the Kings, Thunder, Magic, and Pistons are among those Pincus views as the best candidates to make moves.